"CKF" 2006 Obituary

CKFM o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-05-06 published
Don CAMERON,
Broadcaster: (1923-2006)
Master of the 'insert commercial' parlayed his well-modulated
tones into a successful career in radio and television
By F.F. LANGAN,
Special to The Globe and Mail, Page S11
Long before television came to Canada, and decades before simulcasting,
which replaces U.S. ads with Canadian commercials when programs
run at the same time, there was the insert commercial in radio.
Don CAMERON was master of the insert commercial, a skill that
required flawless timing to squeeze a Canadian ad in, replacing
the American one.
"Insert commercials were unique to Canadian network radio. All
commercials for food and drugs had to conform to Canadian rules,"
says Lyman Potts, a broadcast historian. "While the U.S. announcer
read his piece, the Canadian announcer, at a point of entry,
usually Montreal or Toronto, read the approved Canadian commercial
for Canadian audiences of the U.S. network program."
The insert commercial phase of Mr.
CAMERON's career lasted 10 years.
He was 21 when he started, but within a decade he was commuting
between Canada and the United States, doing radio and later television
programs, and making serious money doing commercials and voiceover
work in New York.
Don CAMERON grew up in downtown Montreal on Chomedy Street near
the Montreal Forum. His father ran a moving and delivery business
called Mansfield Express. The family lived a comfortable existence.
Young Don went to Montreal High, several blocks to the east.
To get there, he would have walked along Sherbrooke Street past
fashionable stores and the shops of shirt makers and tailors.
It was perhaps there he picked up some pointers on style. All
his adult life, Mr.
CAMERON was an immaculate dresser.
Few people went to university in 1940 -- there were only 35,000 undergraduates
in the entire country -- but Mr.
CAMERON went to McGill, where
he graduated in commerce. Although he was a radio and television
performer all his life, Mr.
CAMERON was a canny businessman,
and always lived well.
"He was very astute. A dollar didn't slip by him," said Walter
Gurd, who knew Mr.
CAMERON as a young man when they played in
various bands together in Montreal. This was before the era of
disc jockeys, and a live band was a must at dances.
While studying finance at McGill, he took acting and voice lessons
on the side from Rupert Caplan, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
producer. Mr.
CAMERON landed a job as a part-time announcer at
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation while he was still at McGill,
the studio being about halfway between McGill and home.
The acting training came in handy. In the 1950s, Mr.
CAMERON
landed a part-time job playing a role in daily Canadian soap
opera, Laura Ltd.
After McGill, he worked for a short time at the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation but then joined
CJAD, a new private radio station,
when it opened in late 1945.
Soon he was the host of a popular program called Make Believe
Ballroom. The show, which originated in New York in the early
1940s, was copied across North America. There was always a local
announcer, inserting local colour and choosing the music.
The program started with Glenn Miller's Make Believe Ballroom
Time. "In Canada, both Toronto and Montreal have their own sessions
of the Ballroom running about an hour and half in the morning
and from to two to 2½ hours in the evening," wrote Mr.
CAMERON
in 1946. "The morning program should contain bright, peppy music
to brighten up the day for housewives. A somewhat different approach
is used on the evening… to supply pleasant background when people
eat."
This was when radio had no competition from television and wouldn't
for another six years. Mr.
CAMERON's description of his job comes
from a guest column he wrote in the weekly Montreal Standard.
He was replacing the then-unknown Mavis Gallant while she was
on vacation. It was a breezy column and centred on Mr.
CAMERON's
two main loves: broadcasting and making money.
"Most disc jockeys earn a guaranteed basic salary, but as an
incentive, some stations pay a commission for each new sponsor
added to the program. Thus… a Canadian disc jockey's income can
range anywhere from $2,500 to $12,000." That is $29,700 to $142,400
in today's money.
Soon, Mr. CAMERON was making that kind of money, commuting to
both Toronto and New York. In Manhattan, he did live and recorded
commercials for major clients such as Kraft, and Proctor and
Gamble. He did so well, for a couple of years he kept an apartment
in Manhattan.
Back in Toronto, he became the announcer on The Billy O'Connor
Show, which starred Juliette, who would later have her own television
program on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Later, she
was replaced by Sylvia Murphy, who remained a friend of Mr.
CAMERON's
all his life. Both of them stayed with the program when it moved
to television.
The radio version of The Billy O'Connor Show was recorded on
giant 16-inch vinyl discs -- holding 15 minutes a side -- and
shipped across Canada so it could be played at the same time
in every part of the country. The disc was called an "electrical
transcription." The government regulator of the day tried to
ban the technology to try to keep out U.S. radio programming.
Mr. CAMERON was also the host of the Canadian version of To Tell
The Truth, featuring three guests, only one of whom was the real
person. He also commuted to Cleveland for 10 years to host a
weekly quiz show on television there.
In 1966, he started working for
CKFM in Toronto and stayed, hosting
his own afternoon broadcast until 1991. "Don
CAMERON was a product
of the era that gave us such classic announcers as Charles Jennings
[Peter Jennings's father], Jack Dennett, Earl
CAMERON,
Elwood
Glover and Frank Willis," said Mr. Potts.
"They were articulate with modulated, quiet, dramatic voices
that enabled their listeners to hear every word."
Throughout his career, Don
CAMERON dabbled in business and looked
after his money. In the early 1960s, he invested in the Canadian
rights for Ko-Rec-Type, chemically treated paper that allowed
typists to correct mistakes. He also had his own production company,
packaging radio programs and acting as an agent for other announcers.
Mr. CAMERON and his wife spent a lot of time travelling. He always
liked to spend September in London. For many years they had a
place in the Bahamas at Spanish Wells, but they sold when they
found the trip to the Caribbean too taxing. He spent winters
in Vero Beach, Florida
Donald CAMERON was born on September 19, 1923, in Montreal. Although
he gave up smoking 15 years ago, he died of complications from
lung cancer on April 7 at a hospital in Oakville, Ontario He
was 82. He wife, Bea, died several years ago. He is survived
by a brother John, from whom he was estranged. He loved London,
England, and asked that his ashes be spread on the River Thames.

CKFM o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-04-15 published
CAMERON,
DuncanDon (1923-2006)
Passed away suddenly in Oakville, Ontario. Born in Montreal,
the son of Jenny and Bill
CAMERON. He graduated from McGill University
(B.Com.) where he was President of his Junior Year and a member
of the Phi Kappa Pi Fraternity. He worked as a summer relief
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announcer and was active in
various Montreal dance bands. Upon graduation, Don continued
his broadcast career - a career which continued for another 45 years.
With the advent of television, Don left
CJAD in Montreal and
became a freelance performer in Toronto where he was nationwide
broadcast spokesman for many prominent Canadian companies. Don
moved to New York in 1956 where he continued freelancing. In
the mid 1960's he returned to Toronto to host the panel show
"To Tell the Truth" and to start a ten year commute to Cleveland
as Quizmaster on a weekly television show. He also formed Don
Cameron Productions Limited and was Vice-President of Park Leasing
Company. Additionally, in the late 1960's he joined the announce
staff of CKFM (99.9) Toronto and retired in 1991. Predeceased
by his wife, Beatrice (Bea), he leaves his brother, John, his
niece, Mrs. Jill
HUBER, his nephews, Peter and David and their
respective spouses and children, all residents of the U.S.A.
and his godsons, Alessandro and Sebastian
SCIARRA of Oakville.
His request for cremation and no service has been honoured.